Elizabeth Warren on Donald Trump's convention speech: 'He sounded like some two-bit dictator'


Stephen Colbert introduced Elizabeth Warren on Thursday's live, post–Republican National Convention Late Show as the "United States senator who has been dogging Donald Trump for months now on Twitter," and after Warren entered (to Europe's "The Final Countdown," for some reason), he immediately asked her about the GOP convention. She had some opinions. "I think it was the nastiest, most divisive convention that we've seen in half a century," she said.
Colbert asked if anger wasn't appropriate, and Warren conceded that "people are angry, and people have good reason to be angry.... But let's be really, really clear: Donald Trump does not have the answers." Colbert prodded her to see why Bernie Sanders supporters shouldn't "go over to Donald Trump," and Warren said that if you "scratch the surface a little bit and see what Donald Trump's really talking about, what he's really talking about is what he's talked about all his life, and that's how to improve the world for Donald Trump." The system is rigged, she said, but "that speech tonight? He sounded like some two-bit dictator of some country you couldn't find on a map."
In the second half of the interview, Colbert asked if the Democrats are underestimating Trump, and Warren said yes: "I think everyone is underestimating Donald Trump. He is one dangerous man, and we need to take him really seriously, take him out now." Colbert chided her over her mean tweets, asking: "Are you bullying him? Aren't you stooping to his level?" Warren laughed. "Oh, boo hoo — are you kidding?" She said that Trump's speech was based on drumming up fear, but "you listen to a speech like that, and I don't know how there's anybody left in America who isn't afraid of Donald Trump."
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Warren said that the Democrats' message next week will be that "we're stronger together," and then Colbert asked about Hillary Clinton: "Why do you think she cannot gain the trust of people the way, say, a male candidate can? That's called leading the witness." She didn't bite. Clinton "has been under attack for 25 years," Warren said, "and she just keeps getting up and fighting for it again, and I just gotta say, I like women who fight back." Watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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